{"id":26559,"date":"2022-12-29T20:19:49","date_gmt":"2022-12-29T20:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/29\/ireland-to-examine-twitter-data-breach-that-may-affect-400m-users\/"},"modified":"2022-12-29T20:19:49","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T20:19:49","slug":"ireland-to-examine-twitter-data-breach-that-may-affect-400m-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/12\/29\/ireland-to-examine-twitter-data-breach-that-may-affect-400m-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland to examine Twitter data breach that may affect 400M+ users"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Ireland\u2019s privacy regulator today announced that it will examine a recently disclosed data breach that may affect more than 400 million Twitter Inc. users.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Data Protection Commission, or DPC, is already investigating the company over a previous breach. The latter incident, which took place in November, involved hackers leaking information belonging to 5.4 million Twitter users.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this week, reports emerged<\/a><\/span>\u00a0that the data of more than 400 million Twitter users had been put up for sale on a hacker forum. The compromised data is said to include the affected users\u2019 names, phone numbers, usernames, follower counts and account creation dates. The hacker behind the breach demanded $200,000 to hand over the information and delete it.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The hacker also publicly released the data of more than 1,000 users. The users reportedly include politicians, celebrities and other public figures.<\/span><\/p>\n

The data was reportedly stolen using a flaw in one of Twitter\u2019s application programming interfaces. The flaw was introduced into the API through a faulty software released in 2021. It enabled hackers to learn the phone numbers and email addresses associated with specific Twitter accounts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the flaw was used to steal information belonging to 5.4 million Twitter users. Ireland\u2019s Data Protection Commission recently <\/span>launched a probe<\/span><\/a> into Twitter\u2019s response to the incident. The DPC indicated today that it will expand the scope of the inquiry to include the latest data breach disclosed this week.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cReports have claimed that some additional datasets have now been offered for sale on the dark web,\u201d the regulator said in a statement to the <\/span>BBC<\/span><\/a>. \u201cThe DPC has engaged with Twitter in this inquiry and will examine Twitter\u2019s compliance with data-protection law in relation to that security issue.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The DPC earlier sought information from Twitter about the potential impact of the company\u2019s recent layoffs on its ability to meet privacy obligations. The layoffs affected more than half of Twitter\u2019s workforce, including members of its policy, safety and privacy teams. The DPC <\/span>stated<\/span><\/a>\u00a0late last month that \u201cso far we\u2019re getting answers to our questions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The DPC is responsible for supervising Twitter\u2019s privacy practices because the company\u2019s European Union head office is located in Ireland. For the same reason, the regulator also oversees many other major tech firms that maintain their EU offices in Ireland. The group includes Meta Platforms Inc., which has <\/span>received<\/span><\/a> two fines totaling \u20ac625 million from the DPC over the past year for failing to comply with the EU\u2019s GDPR privacy law.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo:\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/h5>\n
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